Two Are Shot Dead by Fellow Marine at Base in Virginia

By

Julian E. Barnes

Updated March 22, 2013 3:30 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—A U.S. Marine sergeant shot and killed a male corporal and female lance corporal, and then killed himself on Thursday night at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., officials said Friday.

The investigation Friday centered around a likely romantic entanglement, officials said, adding the precise motive for the shooting was still unclear. The names of the Marines were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Marine Base Quantico spokesman Lt. Agustin Solivan briefed reporters following the shooting incident at the base on Thursday night. A marine killed himself after shooting a male and female colleague to death. Photo: AP.

All three Marines were staff members at the school, and the sergeant worked as a trainer, officials said. Law-enforcement officials were called to Taylor Hall, a barracks building at Quantico, at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday after the first reports of a shooting.

Marine officials citing initial reports said the alleged attacker was isolated in a barracks building by law-enforcement personnel before killing himself.

"We have begun to deal with the tremendous loss that happened last night, and on behalf of Marine Corps Base Quantico and the Officer Candidate School, I want to express my sincere condolences to the families, the friends…of the three Marines that we lost last night," Col. David Maxwell, the base commander, told reporters Friday morning.

"It was isolated to those three Marines," said spokesman Sgt. Christopher Zahn.

The base was put on lockdown after the shooting for about 3½ hours but then returned to normal operations.

The deaths at Quantico come on the heels of a training accident in Nevada that killed seven Marines and injured eight more Monday.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was notified of the deaths at Quantico. "This tragedy, as well as the tragedy in Nevada earlier this week, took the lives of Marines who volunteered to serve their nation," Mr. Little said.

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